Spicebush – Lindera benzoin

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Karl August Folkers (September 1, 1906 – December 7, 1997) was an American biochemist who made major contributions to the isolation and identification of bioactive natural products.[2][1]

Career

Folkers graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois in 1928. In 1986, the institution awarded him its Alumni Achievement Award.[3]

His career was mainly spent at Merck. He played a prominent role in the isolation of vitamin B12 in 1947, which is one of the most structural complex of the vitamins.[4] As a Merck Pharmaceuticals research team, Folkers, Fern P. Rathe, and Edward Anthony Kaczka were the first to isolate the antibiotic cathomycin in 1955.[5] His team also isolated the antibiotic cycloserine.[6] In 1958 his Merck team determined the structure of coenzyme Q10.[7]

He later served as director of the Institute of Biomedical Research at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was also Ashbel Smith Professor of Chemistry.[3]

In recognition for his scientific contributions, he received the Perkin Medal in 1960,[8] the William H. Nichols Medal in 1967,[9] the Priestley Medal in 1986, and the National Medal of Science in 1990.

References

  1. ^ a b c Olson, R E (September 1, 2001). "Karl August Folkers (1906–1997)". Journal of Nutrition. 131 (9): 2227–30. doi:10.1093/jn/131.9.2227. PMID 11533258.
  2. ^ Shive, William (2002). "Karl August Folkers, September 1, 1906 – December 9, 1997". Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. 81: 100–14. PMID 12661556.
  3. ^ a b "Alumni Achievement Award (Est. 1957)". University of Illinois Alumni Association. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  4. ^ Narins, Brigham. (2001). Notable Scientists From 1900 to the Present, Volume 2. Gale Group. p. 749. ISBN 9780787617530 "Folkers isolated vitamin B12 in 1947, and spent the following eight years elucidating its complex- atom structure; it is used in the treatment of pernicious anemia. He synthesized pantothenic acid in 1940, and biotin in 1945."
  5. ^ Acc. 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives. Accessed 29 July 2013. http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_297416
  6. ^ Kuehl, Frederick A.; Wolf, Frank J.; Trenner, Nelson R.; Peck, Robert L.; Buhs, Rudolf P.; Howe, Eugene; Putter, Irvin; Hunnewell, Berl D.; Ormond, Robert; Downing, George; Lyons, John E.; Newstead, E.; Chaiet, Louis; Folkers, Karl (1955). "D-4-amino-3-isoxazolidone, a new antibiotic". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 77 (8): 2344–2345. doi:10.1021/ja01613a105.
    Stammer, Charles H.; Wilson, Andrew N.; Holly, Frederick W.; Folkers, Karl (1955). "Synthesis of D-4-amino-3-isoxazolidone". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 77 (8): 2346–2347. doi:10.1021/ja01613a107.
  7. ^ "History of CoQ10". 26 February 2015.
  8. ^ "SCI Perkin Medal". Science History Institute. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  9. ^ "NY-ACS Nichols Medalists". www.newyorkacs.org.

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